From Marvin Tupper Jones: October 13, 2018 – King of Prussia, PA: African American Historical and Genealogical Society gave Marvin T. Jones (and thus Chowan Discovery ) its second highest honor, the Paul Edward Sluby/Jean Samson-Scott Meritorious Achievement Award for “Distinguished Performance In Support Of African American History and Genealogy”. Tremendous thanks goes to the many supporters of Chowan Discovery, and AAHGS members Alice Harris (my cherished nominator!), Robyn Smith, Margo Lee Williams, Bernice Bennett and Linda Crichlow White among others The Sluby/Samson-Scott is the second highest award granted by AAHGS. In the 1980’s, Paul Sluby contributed much to Winton Triangle when producing genealogy books for the Collins-Bizzell family.

Marvin is a member of the Central Maryland Chapter of AAHGS and has presented at eight chapters and the national conferences. This is part of Chowan Discovery’s mission to research, document, preserve and present the history of the Winton Triangle and beyond. In 2014, Marvin and Chowan Discovery received an award from the North Carolina Society of Historians.

The North Carolina Society of Historians recently honored the Chowan Discovery Group its Barringer Award of Excellence for its work on Hertford County area history. The citation for the award reads in part:

“The Chowan Discovery Group is a nonprofit organization dedicated to historical preservation, but is not a member-seeking society. Much has been made of several ‘tri-racial’ communities within NC, but little attention has been brought to a community of hundreds of people of color living in what Executive Director Marvin Jones has termed, ‘The Winton Triangle’ between Winton and Ahoskie in the northeastern corner of the state. Since its founding in 2009, the CDG has dedicated itself to the preservation, restoration, and digitizing of hundreds of century-old documents and photographs never previously studied. Not stopping there, the CDG has mad many education outreach lectures and presentations, including a stage presentation, academic lectures, and education presentations. Currently engaged in a campaign to erect historical highway markers recognizing important Winton Triangle people and Native American village sites, a vision for the future includes research of the community’s involvement in the Civil War, and plans for community development within portions of the community. The level of commitment, enthusiasm and momentum able to have been generated in such a short amount of time is much deserving of recognition.”

The NCSH goes on to add:

“We agree, Mr. Adams. And, if one visits their website, one will be amazed at just how much work has been accomplished by this group since 2009. We encourage everyone to visit the site at: www.chowandiscovey.org…

For the great service provided by this group with regard to NC history, we feel they are very deserving of a Barringer Award of Excellence.”

The Chowan Discovery Group thanks CDG Advisor Lars Adams of Waukegan, Illinois for the nomination, and the North Carolina Society of Historians for the award.